Week 37: Samoanized District

So half of our district is from Western Samoa (the REAL Samoa, as my companion, Elder L, puts it) now. When half your district is speaking Samoan, and you are like me, you decide that the only way to feel equal is to learn how to speak with a Cockney accent that is JUST understandable enough for the Americans, but not enough for the Samoans.

 

Let me start off (well I guess I already did) by saying that Elder L is AWESOME! He is hard-working, dedicated, and spiritual. He also knows how to have fun, though. I am excited to serve with him this transfer.

 

Our week was super busy, partially from a new awesome companion, (though my last companion was awesome, too), and partially from me applying myself a lot more. I am trying to reignite my greenie fire. Elder L has an awesome idea that he's done in past areas with great success: he wants to start Preach My Gospel classes with the youth, teaching them how to utilize Preach My Gospel. He's gotten 2 baptisms, 3 missionaries out serving, and lots of new investigators from it. It might be a little more difficult to start it in this stake where the youth are already doing so much, so we are going to try to incorporate it into something we already regularly plan.

 

A lot of cool stuff happened this week, and I don't have time to tell it to you all. We have a potential investigator who said we could come share a lesson on a day that it wasn't raining, and yesterday and today are the first days in 3 weeks with blue skies.

 

I have the wonderful opportunity of serving in an area that has a hospital in it. The 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric gave the hospital his number for anybody who wants a blessing from the Mormon Missionaries, so we get to have tons of opportunities to use the Priesthood. As I have used the Priesthood I hold to bless others, I have increased in faith and understanding. I have learned to "doubt not, fear not" as I've given blessings of healing, and I have placed my faith in the Savior and in the Spirit as words are spoken to me to give to others. In the past, I have shied away from pronouncing certain blessings upon people's heads as I was prompted, but I now am letting the Spirit say what He wants to say, and not stop the whisperings of the Spirit. I know that the Priesthood has been restored on Earth once more, that miracles and blessings are flowing forth from God the Eternal Father, and that His power is manifest.

 

Until next week, "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." - President Uchtdorf

 

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The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

 

Driving to transfers with my old comp.

Our district after building a fence. (Don't worry, I didn't actually use the nail gun.) My companion is the one in blue.

 

Week 36: Elder Holland and the apostles (us)

So first off, my companion is getting transferred back to one of his old areas, as prophesied by many missionaries already. Therefore I am getting a new companion, Elder L.

 

I would like to announce something glorious. After 7 1/2 months, I have FINALLY finished forging my teaching DVDs. I started down this journey about a month after I started my mission, and it is done; Mormon Messages, Mormon Messages for Youth, ALL the Bible Videos, the "His Grace" Mormon Channel series, the Youth Theme videos, member-missionary videos, and the last 3 seasonal videos, all finished and placed on DVD's with working menus. The work is done. Now I am legend. Of course, now this means iPads are probably right around the corner and all my work will amount to nothing but the gift of work ethic and trying to magnify my calling.

 

So we had our first ever mission conference, where the entire mission came together in one chapel. The key speaker was... Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles! I actually got to shake his hand. He was talking directly to us, walking the aisles amongst us! He actually started by putting a clip-on microphone and saying, "Elders and sisters, I want to get up close and personal with you all today." Then he grabbed the nearest elder's face and put his right next to the missionary's, shouting, "I want to get in your face!" We all laughed, but I would have fainted if I was that missionary. Elder Holland is incredible, and he taught us a lot. He told us that there isn't enough fire in this mission, and he was going to give us some. I thought there was something really cool that he said. He said that we as missionaries are apostles. He is an Apostle with a capital "A", but we are apostles with a lowercase "a". We are special messengers and witnesses of Jesus Christ. We are His ambassadors. It really was a mission-changing experience, and I have vowed to reignite my greenie fire and spread it to others.

 

This week was by far the best week of the transfer, at the close of this 6 weeks. We had Specialized Training, Zone Training the week before, and Mission Conference with Elder Hillier (area seventy) and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Not only that, but I finally was able to teach a full Preach My Gospel lesson at least once during the transfer. I am going to make sure that I am not going a day, at least not a week, without a PMG lesson ever again. It was extremely refreshing. We also made big strides with B, our less-active member. He is make huge progress, though it may seem small in the eyes of those who aren't working with him or looking closely enough. He is going to Utah for the week, and we are enlisting him to bring us back some Grandma Sycamore bread.

 

Here is a little bit of Holland wisdom for you. This gospel is all about change and progression. We are supposed to become something new. We are NOT entitled to go back to the way we were before. We have set our hand to the plow and we can NEVER look back. Elder Holland says that one of the few things in the world that he absolutely cannot stand is to find out that an RM has gone less-active. His mission meant EVERYTHING to him, and he knows that without it, he would not be where he is today. Never look back, never go back. You can't. There is too much at stake.

 

The Lord loves you and so do I. Never forget your potential. Until next week.
 

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The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

Week 35: May Snow and Mother's Day

So we had dinner with the Spanish elders every day this week, and by the end of it I was done with telling people where I was from, because it always ended on me, so you'd hear, "Germany. El Salvador. Samoa. Utah..." It's alright though, because we had some good laughs because of it. They asked what was different from their culture and American culture, and I'd always pipe in first and say, "Oh, everything is different. Completely different culture." I wasn't completely lying, though. Utah culture is VERY different.

 

We received training on JustServe, a new program that the Church is trying out to get members and missionaries more active in their communities. We will be doing a JustServe project at the local food bank tomorrow. We also received instruction on how to appropriately behave when an Apostle of the Lord comes to visit. Elder Holland will be speaking with our mission this week.

 

The Spanish elders do soccer every Friday night as a finding activity, which is actually very effective for them, and we came along to play as well. I'll tell you, when you are planning with lots of Hispanics, including an El Salvadoran, as well as a missionary from Germany, you really have to step up your game. I had to learn a few new tricks in order to compete with these guys. If any of you know me and sports, you will know that my face is a magnet for sports balls. I actually broke my glasses a few weeks ago playing soccer, and my face was pretty bruised from rugby. I have a back-up pair of glasses, but I've decided it's probably best to take them off during sports. That was evident this night, as a power kick nailed me in the face again while I was sitting on the stage of the church gym. I guess I have a pretty thick skull to deal with it. ;)

 

So it has been raining non-stop this week. We didn't go a day without rain, and at some point during the day it always turned torrential. Saturday was a little different. After raining cats and dogs (that means a lot for you younger folks), it suddenly turned into wet snow. Snow, in May? Why not? We found out the next day that our member's car's windshield had busted over the weight of the snow. It all melted pretty quickly. Now it's sunny outside. I feel like I've been in this area for a year, not 5 weeks, seeing how I just experience every season within a week. I thought Utah's weather was bad.

 

Sunday was pretty good, I guess. Just kidding, it was AWESOME! After hearing General-Conference-level talks at Sacrament Meeting, I got to go home and talk with my momma! Oh, and my other family members. I was thinking in Sacrament Meeting that it should be called Missionary's day, too!

 

This week, I would like to read a scripture from Ephesians 4: 29, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." I am extremely guilty of sarcasm, and consider myself fluent in it. The Greek root for the word "sarcasm" is sarkazein, which means "to tear flesh like dogs". Sarcasm is speech intended to harm the hearer by saying the exact opposite of what you mean. In order for somebody to be sarcastic, they have to intentionally lie. For a while I worked heavily on getting rid of my sarcasm, but I've grown a bit lax in trying. I'm sure if you study my letter closely enough, you might be able to see some sarcasm in certain sentences. This week I want to invite myself, as well as all of you, to examine your speech and see what you can do to "purify" it. I promise that as you do, you will gain greater confidence in yourself, and you will be able to love those you speak with even more.

 

The Lord loves you and will help you with ANYTHING you are struggling with. I know this, and I leave you my testimony of it in the name the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

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The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

Here is a link to a video that a member in his area made for all of the mothers for Mother's Day. His companion is the Samoan, just FYI.

https://vimeo.com/127437106

 

 

The picture is the night of snow.

 

 

Week 34: Exchanges and Deseret

We went on exchanges with the district leader this week. I went to Castle Pines, and our district leader came to our area. It was a day full of service, and I got two loaves of bread out of it, so it was pretty exciting. And it's pretty good bread. Me and Elder VanS, who I came out with, had an awesome time together, and the jokes just kept rolling.

 

We have a sister in our district who had a birthday this week, and our district leader just learned how to do 3-way calls, so we decided to 3-way call her at 6:30 AM to wish her a happy birthday, as well as at noon. Don't worry, we also got together in the evening and gave her a cake, though she'd already been stuffed full by members. We made sure to bring up her birthday during the rest of the week.

 

The zone leaders went on exchanges with the district leader and companion, so we had district meeting with a zone leader. Immediately after we did service in Castle Pines for Grandma T, who is not a member. Me and Elder T got to cut up a fallen tree branch (don't worry, no power tools) and we ended up stripping the bark and making a staff. I found a better sized fallen branch and made a staff/ walking stick out of it. Oh, and we worked too.

 

The stake president called all the missionaries in our zone (which covers the stake) together for breakfast, and we had a missionary work meeting. He proposed some new ideas to get the work rolling forward that I'd never thought of before. He is pushing to get the members a lot more involved in the work and the missionaries a lot bolder, both of which are integral to the work.

 

Our ward is feeding the Spanish elders this week, but our Sunday dinner fell through, so a Samoan family in Park Meadows invited us to dinner (the blessings of having a Samoan companion.) One of the elders is from El Salvador, one from Germany, my companion from American Samoa, and then me from Utah. We joked about that, and so I decided that from now on if people ask where I'm from, I will either say Deseret (our originally proposed state name) or I'll say, "It's a little hard to pronounce in English, but it basically means, 'Top of the mountains'. It's near the coast of El Gran Lago Salado." There were conversations going on in German, Spanish, and Samoan, so when I spoke, I could barely speak English.

 

I was thinking this week about the talk that Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Seventy gave in General Conference, "Waiting for the Prodigal". One of the best parts of that talk that I love is when he said, "For some reason, I had always related to the son who stayed home. As David read that morning, I realized that in some ways I was the prodigal son. All of us fall short of the glory of the Father (see Romans 3:23). All of us need the Savior’s Atonement to heal us. All of us are lost and need to be found." For the longest time, I had thought this way as well, but the Lord is showing me bit by bit that I truly am the prodigal son, and that I need to make my way back home. I invite all of you to take a closer look at your lives and determine what it is that can help you "come to [your]self" and return to the Father. He is watching and waiting to embrace you again.

 

Until next week, remember, "Fear attracts the fearful. The strong. The weak. The innocent. The corrupt. Fear is [Satan's] ally," and "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." There is a remedy for fear, and that is faith. Faith allows us to overcome fear. The two cannot exist within the same person at the same time. Faith is the path to the Father. Stay strong, and May the Fourth Be With You.
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The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

 

 

 My awesome name for our new planning formula.

 

 

 

 The watches of various nationalities, namely El Salvador, Germany, Samoa, and 'Merica!

 

 

 

Hear is also an awesome poem that was recently shown to me.